The U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is now laying the groundwork for the offensive to retake Mosul, the terror group’s Iraq stronghold, the top general in charge of the air war said Tuesday.
“I can tell you’re we’re already shaping the environment for the Iraqi security forces (ISF),” said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian at a Pentagon briefing.
“The intent there is really to shape the environment so that as the ISF prepares to liberate Mosul, we’ve softened up the enemy for them,” Harrigian said. “We’re going to continue to do that until they’re ready to execute.”
{mosads}Harrigian said coalition air forces were striking car bomb factories, as well as command and control nodes and oil tankers. They also recently hit an ISIS chemical munitions factory in Mosul, removing a “significant chemical threat to innocent Iraqis,” he said.
As Iraqi troops head into Mosul, Harrigian said, coalition air forces would then conduct “dynamic targeting” — hitting targets that present themselves on the battlefield, versus “deliberate targeting” where targets are developed beforehand.
The battle for Mosul could begin in late October, the top U.S. commander in Iraq told The Wall Street Journal last week.
“We’re preparing for a hard fight, a long, difficult fight” in Mosul, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told the Journal on Wednesday. “Really, it’s a siege I’m talking about here.”
The spokesman for the ISIS war later poured cold water on the idea the offensive could begin so soon.
“What we’re talking about here is meeting the Iraqi timeline. So if you’re going to get something done by the end of the year, this is a very tough battle,” said Air Force Col. John Dorrian.
“The Mosul liberation battle for Mosul is five to six times as large as Ramadi in both area and in the number of people that are there. So there are going to be a lot of planning considerations and a lot of troops that have to be trained in order to do that,” he said during a Thursday briefing.
“We expect a very tough fight because the Daesh have been in that area for more than two years, so they’ve had a chance to build intricate defenses. So we’re going to try to meet the Iraqi timeline,” he added, using the Arabic name for the group.
Defense officials estimate there are 3,000-4,500 ISIS fighters and as many as a million citizens in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city.